Colton Dalton and Nicole Williams

Gila, NM

Grant Soil and Water Conservation District

Colton Dalton and Nicole Williams are both native New Mexicans; Colton has been a gardener and has had a green thumb for over a decade, and Nicole has been a quick study. They came to soil health first through experience as stewards of their own tenth of an acre property (including home) in Albuquerque, NM. After watching the Kiss the Ground movie, they were inspired to take their advocacy training, learn more about regenerative agriculture, and put the soil health principles into practice in their own yard and in the yards of Colton’s landscaping clients throughout the city.

Through a plethora of virtual soil-related conferences and through connections with fellow soil health champions, Dalton and Williams were able to strengthen their support system and soil knowledge. In June 2021 they decided to start a small homestead and purchased a one-acre property in the small agricultural town of Gila, NM. They plan to grow the land into a functional farm that can provide healthy, delicious produce to the surrounding community while restoring the soil sponge and local watershed. To support this effort, they received a Healthy Soil Grant through the NM Healthy Soil Program. The grant has allowed them to buy tons of compost, cover and pollinator crop seeds, native bush and tree seeds and straw to retain moisture and protect the soil.

The land was formerly used solely as a residence and showed many opportunities for improvement. The most difficult of the improvements was clearing approximately 50 invasive Siberian elms that covered much of the property. Ultimately, Dalton and Williams required the use of a neighbor’s 10-ton trackhoe to remove these trees. The grant Dalton and Williams received allowed them to rent a woodchipper to turn smaller elm limbs into a huge amount of mulch to cover decertified areas (e.g. roads, pathways). For medium-sized limbs, they plan to create a biochar pit. They are creating water catchment, garden beds, and lining roads and pathways with the largest limbs and trunks. All these processes help incorporate a large amount of the elm back into the local environment as food for microbes.

Other areas were overcome with invasive quackgrass, horehound and goathead, but Dalton and Williams quickly began managing this primarily through chop-and-drop, again returning as much biomass and nutrients to the local microbiome as possible. Their main goal is to create overall more fungal soil conditions that disfavor these invasive species, which tend to prefer more bacterial conditions. They are also moving their flock of chickens and guinea, which are adding nutrients and breaking down biomass, to help achieve this goal.

One of the biggest challenges Dalton and Williams face in their operation is drought. While it may be a seasonal problem, it is also a perennial problem. They are hopeful that their composting, mulching, and cover crops will help mitigate that through increased infiltration and moisture retention. They also plan to lay drip irrigation and purchase a solar powered submersible pump to minimize their water usage and maximize their water efficiency.

Dalton and Williams believe that everything is a learning experience. So, while they face some challenges, they can say it has been a fun and great start to restoring the area to be a food forest.

Posted August 2022